


I Will See You Again

by silraen



Category: The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Drama, F/M, Headcanon, Injury Recovery, Rape Recovery, Recovery, Reference to Rape, Reference to Torture, Romance, Third Age, bookverse, reference to abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-17 18:54:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29476575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silraen/pseuds/silraen
Summary: On the shore of the sea, Elrond perceives Celebrían come to a heartrending decision.**Note: I wrote this on and off for about a year. It is based off of a half-written and unfinished story idea I and another LOTR fan had back in 2004/2005. Angel Ruse, if you’re out there and seeing this, I never forgot the beautiful romance we came up with for Elrond and Celebrían. This is my take on it 🤍
Relationships: Celebrían/Elrond Peredhel
Kudos: 10





	1. I Will See You Again

The tide was rising along the windswept coast of Forlindon. 

Glistening in the westering light of the sun, the sea heaved and exuberantly rushed for a hidden cove’s crescent moon beach. 

When at last the briny depth gathered enough momentum, it fractured into azure waves that rose and then crashed down upon the sandy shore. They tumbled worn rocks, bits of white shells, and sinuous sea plants in their haste to roll uphill and fling themselves in delight at the bare, pale feet of the elven woman who stood just at the water’s edge.   
  
As the spirited wind brushed against the wealth of her white-gold hair and flowing raiment, the playful waves impertinently splashed higher to pepper her face with cheeky droplets.   
  
The silvery notes of her soft, amused laugh threaded on the effervescent breeze and spiraled up the low knoll where her lord and husband sat cross-legged amidst the silken fronds of seagrass.   
  
Upon hearing her, Elrond looked up, the flute he was carving from driftwood momentarily forgotten. Shock gleamed in his eyes, and he hardly dared to breathe lest he break the spell of this wondrously significant moment.   
  
When her chiming laugh pealed out again, the surprise etched into his handsome, if stern, features melted away into an awed smile. It flickered hesitantly over his mouth, softening the severity of his countenance. 

He watched as the lapping waves cavorted around his wife’s legs in response to her mirth, joyfully urging her to dance with them.   
  
Celebrían had never been one to refuse a dance.   
  
The elven lord’s loving yet stunned eyes followed her every move as she gathered her long skirts in her hands and gracefully sprang away to the right, as fleet as a doe, following the large tube of water as it curled its way down the beach.   
  
The sinking sun’s light glanced off her slender form and created sparkling diamonds from the water she kicked up. As she ran and leapt and twirled in the shallows, her elation rang on the wind as melodiously as any song.  
  
Elrond set his whittling aside, completely entranced.   
  
The last time he saw Celebrían overflow with such joy had been over a year ago...before she had been abducted while journeying through the Redhorn Pass to Lothlórien, the enchanted woodland of her maidenhood where golden mellyrn thrived and wild gardens of sweet niphredil and yellow elanor blossomed, all untouched by the wheels of time.   
  
His glorious silver lady, an ethereal, lissome creature of the forest, had been held captive in the malevolent dark of an endless catacomb beneath the mountains. And there, in the smothering underground, she had been heinously tormented by the orcs for their brute, carnal pleasure.   
  
When at last their warrior sons recovered her, they were horrified to find their vibrantly radiant mother replaced by a mute, ghastly phantom. The culmination of corporeal and psychological suffering had dimmed the pearlescent glow of her vitality and had doused the bright vivacity of her gray eyes, leaving them caliginous and haunted.   
  
As they knelt before her and gingerly covered her nakedness with their cloaks, their attention had been drawn to the crusted and oozing wounds marring her flesh...especially the fresh and foulest cut just above her heart.   
  
At the time, they hadn’t known it was from that bleeding slash where deadly poison was seeping through her body, intensifying her trauma.   
  
And yet the noble resiliency of Lady Galadriel and Lord Celeborn of Lorién ran true in her veins, for despite the unspeakable evils done to her, Celebrían tenaciously clung to life...even if it was by a gossamer thread.   
  
After Elladan and Elrohir had urgently galloped her home to Imladris and Elrond at last held her wraithlike body in his arms, he foresaw with instant clarity that time, which was carelessly regarded by the immortal elves as an inconsequential concern, was paramount.   
  
And if he were to save her from death, then he did not have much of it left to bend to his purpose.   
  
But he could not begin the painstaking and exacting healing without first linking his mind with hers, life to life, soul to soul.   
  
Alas, so far and so deeply had she withdrawn into herself that it had taken all his mental strength to reach inside her, searching for that iridescent flare of starfire that was his beloved.   
  
Elrond found her flickering faintly there in the tarnished caverns of her mind, whimpering and writhing in anguish, drowning in her fevered memories of torture and molestation.   
  
His blood ran like ice in his veins as his worst suspicions for what she endured were starkly confirmed.   
  
Weeping bitterly, he sang her name.   
  
His rich baritone echoed throughout the seen and unseen planes. The harmony he wove out of the Sindarin syllables was searingly magnificent. It emanated from him as a gamut of dazzling colors spinning into a ray of coruscating, golden light. 

Into the splendor he poured every beautifully nuanced emotion he felt for her and every cherished memory he had of her. 

Everything around him, from the stones of Imladris to the roots of the mountains and beyond even to the edges of his domain seemed to tremble with the unleashing of his abiding love for Celebrían. 

The malignant shades of her waking terror shrank back from the onslaught of his resplendent might, leaving her momentarily islanded in roiling violence. 

And in that swift moment of breathless clarity, she heard him, saw him, and with a heartrending cry, desperately reached for him.   
  
The otherworldly, scintillating light washed over Celebrían as he wrested her from the miasma of her horrors, fiercely catching her in his protective embrace. 

With her safely entwined in his soul-grasp, Elrond turned his keen mind to her failing body. With a fearless, chilling ferocity, he waged war against the poison polluting her bloodstream.   
  
Armed with his adroit mastery of skill and every ounce of knowledge gleaned from centuries of healing lore, he drew the foul slime from her delicate veins, from her very beating heart.  
  
That accursed, malefic venom had wound its way through her so thoroughly, seeking to pervert and then destroy her bodily temple from within and without, that death was an alarming possibility.

Yet with a courageous grace Elrond would forever admire, she had bravely withstood the tremendous mental and physical strain and emerged from the ordeal triumphant, but enervated.   
  
After those long, exhausting days following the initial healing, her hold on the world strengthened week by week, month by month. With aching slowness, her body and mind mended as she convalesced in the sun-dappled gardens of Imladris.   
  
She basked in the serene beauty of the hidden valley, delighted in the animals of fur and feather, meditated to the wind rustling through the aspens and beeches. On many an evening, just as the first stars shyly revealed themselves, she harmonized with the thunderous melody of the surrounding waterfalls.  
  
There were times when her clear soprano soared beatifically above the roar of the water, and all who heard it halted in their activities, breathless and reverent...for it wasn’t often anymore the people of Imladris saw or heard from their beloved lady. 

While Celebrían finally began to open her heart once again to her family, she didn’t show any desire to don the mantel of Lady of Imladris, a position she had previously taken such pride and joy in. 

When opportunities arose naturally, Elrond encouraged her to engage with the household in small ways. Alas...his attempts were always awarded with an evasive shake of her silvery head and a sad, gentle smile. 

Unable to bear her reserved elusiveness, or the deeper significance he began to perceive behind it, he eventually ceased asking altogether. Sternly he demanded the rest of the stronghold follow his example and leave her in solitude. 

Nearly all the seasons of a year arrived and departed before Elrond could openly admit to himself Celebrían’s detachment from her responsibilities was not part of her convalescence. 

She was waning. 

Despite doing everything he could possibly think of to captivate her spirit and entice her to take part in the ebb and flow of Middle-earth, she was withdrawing from these lands, from her children...from him. 

Their journey to the coast was his very last attempt to permanently rouse the vivacious passion slumbering deep within her soul. 

The daughter of forests had always longed to see the coastal region, a land so very different from Lórien and Imladris. But after what she’d endured, he was not certain she still harbored the desire. 

So he had steeled his heart before gently approaching her with the idea of this sojourn, for he expected her to decline his invitation out of fear of travel. 

How shocked and delighted he had been when instead she reached for his hand, her gray eyes shining with hope. 

“The sea?” she breathed. “You would take me to the sea?” 

The yearning in her low voice was unmistakable. And even though Elrond felt such relief in at last finding something to pique her interest, he hadn’t been able to ignore the sudden twinge of uncertainty in his heart. 

Would taking her to the western shores of Middle-earth achieve the opposite of what he intended? 

Rather than stirring her love for the realms she’d known all her days, would their visit awaken instead a fierce longing to sail away from this continent to that of Aman, the blessed realm?

But now that he had proposed to escort her to Forlindon, he very well could not fail to honor his word. 

“Yes, dearest heart,” he gravely answered, curling his palm tightly around hers. “I will take you there, or anyplace else you wish to go.”

“I wish to go,” came her fervent whisper, and his conflicted heart ached in his breast under the beautiful smile of loving gratitude she bestowed upon him. 

Thus, after weeks of blessedly uneventful travel, here they were, and the positive change wrought in her from sheltering in this place all day was unmistakable. 

At first, he observed it shine in small ways, such as how her solemnity bled away to be replaced with sparkling veneration when the vast expanse of the ocean came into their view. 

How, when they halted their mounts at the head of the meandering trail crossing down the cliffs, she reached across the pommel of her palfrey’s saddle to hold his hand tightly, her trembling fingers betraying her excitement. 

How, once they descended into the cove and dismounted, her lips curved into a delighted smile when she slipped out of her riding shoes to bury her toes in the velvet sand. 

Celebrían had turned to him then, her fingers curling around his arm and gently squeezing with an intimacy he had long missed. Yet her expression was one of wistful distance.

Understanding her unspoken need for solitude, Elrond let her drift away from his side, although he protectively kept watch from afar. 

She traversed the entire beach, exploring around every driftwood log and shallow tide pool she came upon. Eventually, she ceased to intermittently peer upwards at the guards who were posted on the cliffs. And after a while, she even forgot to glance around for him to reassure herself he was still there. 

By that time, she had completely lost herself in the allure of the cove. 

Utterly diverted, she wetted her feet in the lingering foam of the receding waves and watched wonderingly as small sand creatures scuttled to and fro in the glistening damp before digging holes to hide from the cool air and wheeling seabirds. 

Her wonderment increased when she discovered hollow seashells laying scattered across the rippling dunes. Retrieving each one to hold in the palm of her hand, she marveled at their unique patterns, jeweled colors, and delicate intricacies. Then with great care she returned them to where she’d found them so they could continue to play their part in the shaping of the world. 

Long after midday, Celebrían sank to her knees upon the moist slope and crafted an elven woman in the sand. She had long hair decorated with strands of kelp serving to modestly cover her nudity. Upon her brow was a circlet of tiny, perfectly white shells. Trailing from her forearms and calves were long fins, such as those found on the backs of fish. 

When the waves finally began to quicken, melting the edges of Celebrían’s creation, she rose to her feet. Heedless of the long gown she wore, she glided further into the water to rinse her hands of sand. 

And that was when she saw the dolphins. 

Enchanted, she stilled, eyes widening in amazement as a pod of the elegant creatures breached at the mouth of the cove. 

Some playfully arced through the air before slipping with swift grace back into the deep. Others rose upright on their tails, bobbing their snouts and trilling happily to one another. When at last they could hold their vertical positions no longer, they either spun silently back down beneath the surface, or they dramatically fell backwards, squealing their delight. 

Throughout all this, Elrond took heed of how more of Celebrían’s inquisitive and ebullient self resurfaced as she discovered, created, and explored. 

But the most consequential was the transformation he saw now. 

The hesitant hope Elrond had strictly tempered all day long began to drift into his forethoughts, lighting his eyes as his beloved swayed and skipped with the flirting waves back down the length of the cove toward him. 

Her face was not turned to him, however, for Anar had begun her descent to the horizon. 

The clouds rolling inland were ignited by the yellow flame of her ardent kiss, and they burst into blushing vibrancy, blazing silver and bronze across the boundless sky. 

Celebrían stood straight and silent for a time, her attention raptly fixed upon the extraordinary sight, the wild tangle of her wind-tossed hair flowing behind her like wisps of cloud. 

Then, with reverence, she raised her slender arms. They slowly flared out from her sides, the long sleeves of her gown streaming. 

And suddenly it seemed to Elrond that she was lifting a splendid swathe of white wings. A vision came over him, and he foresaw beyond the reality before his eyes. 

Celebrían’s womanly form shivered and stretched and was enshrouded in radiant light. Then he blinked, and a lustrous swan soared upwards from the tumbling sea. 

So resplendent was she with her sleekly gilded pearlescence and intelligent eyes shining as twilit jewels in the light. Elrond knew without a doubt she was not a creature of this world. 

Stunned by the pen’s magnificence, he was rooted to where he sat, keen eyes transfixed as she wheeled on glorious wingtip, spiraling higher upon the currents of the air.

Then she began to sing, and he instantly recognized the silvery voice. 

_Celebrían._

It was, without a doubt, her clear soprano piercing the winds, and yet at the same time, it was different... _more._

_Lost was I...._ she cried mournfully to the heavens. 

Elrond took in a sharp breath at the sorrowful, ethereal music of her utterance, for the melodious sounds emitting from her slender throat did not take the shape of a spoken dialect. Rather, they pealed out as golden notes ringing with the pulse of Arda melded with the deepest, purest sentiments of her very soul. 

_Lo!_ she trilled, her song brimming with such triumph that his heart ached with it, _....now I am found...._

The very air was laden with her euphoric regret as she began to fly Westward...away from him. 

“Celebrían!” he rasped brokenly, leaping to his feet.

He did not remember sprinting down the sloping waterfront, yet suddenly waves were swirling around his ankles. The curious nipping of the cold water brought him out of his trance, and he found himself gazing down into his wife’s serene face. The gray depths of her eyes were shimmering with both joy and sorrow, and he read in them as clearly as if she spoke the solemn words aloud, _Your world is no longer mine._

“Celebrían,” his grief-stricken voice trembled around her name as her white hands slid up his chest. Tightly he grasped her, his forehead coming to rest against hers as the small flame of lingering hope that she would stay in Middle-earth flickered weakly...and died. _“Ai, Celebrian,”_ he groaned hoarsely. 

“Beloved mine,” she murmured, breath soft against his lips, “please...do not begrudge me my decision.”

He closed his eyes against the agony slashing his heart. “I do not.” 

“You understand why....” her low tone thrummed with her remorse...her bliss. 

“I do, dearest heart.” He turned to press a lamenting, compassionate kiss to her silken temple. “I do.” For what else could he say? 

Her fleeting smile was incandescent amidst the wet sheen upon her cheeks. “I will see you again.”

Elrond gazed down into those lambent, far-seeing eyes and believed the ringing truth of her words. “It will be many long years until that day, for there is much I must abide here for,” he confided quietly, unashamedly leaning into her touch as she caressed away his tears. 

“You would not be the man I love if you forsook your duties and abdicated your role prematurely to sail with me.” 

The corner of his mouth twitched sadly. “Alas, Celebrían, the waiting will be....” he allowed his anguished thought to trail off unspoken for fear that giving voice to his soul-pain would inflict unnecessary hurt upon her. 

His sentiment, though, shivered unspoken between them, and in response she gracefully curved her body against his in a loving embrace. “Do not think of it now, beloved,” she entreated into his ear. “Do not dwell on anything beyond this night. Come,” she invited, twining her fingers in his and gently pulling him with her up the starlit beach. 

Unable to deny her anything she now wished and utterly entranced by her winsome smile, which reminded him acutely of their earliest years together, he followed her to an alcove naturally carved into the cliff and hidden away from his sentries’ watchful eyes. 

Together they ceased moving, and Elrond found himself looking down at a soft bed of long grasses and seaside flowers blooming sweetly in the velvet night. 

The question in his eyes was sharp...wondering... _desiring_...as they darted swiftly to hers. 

Celebrían’s hands quivered as she smoothed them up his arms. “Lie with me, dearest,” came her soft voice threading through the shining starlight around them. 

He moved closer, heart strumming. “Are you...certain?” he could not help but breathe, his body warming under her caressing touch. He had not lain with her since her rescue nearly a full year ago. Highly sensitive to her convalescence, he had not wanted to cause her any distress by engaging in the intimacies of the bedchamber before she was ready. 

“I desire you to chase away the darkness lingering here,” she traced her fingertips over her heart. “I desire you to give me this memory to cherish while I wait for you to join me in Aman.” Her eyes were as bright as quicksilver when they lifted to his once more. “Will you?”

Elrond’s murmured promise was borne away upon the sea breeze. It swirled out over the thundering waves, drifting joyously along the whorls of stars as he gathered Celebrían close to reverently offer all that he was, and would ever be, to her.


	2. Fanart: Intimacy Beneath a Sea of Stars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This lovely piece of artwork is by jen-and-kris. Do not use/repost without my permission. Thank you!

**Author's Note:**

> This lovely piece of artwork is by jen-and-kris. Do not use/repost without my permission. Thank you!


End file.
